Normative Theory

Baiasu, Sorin

Abstract

Imagine a group of persons that form a society or a political community. It is most likely these persons relate to each other in their everyday dealings on the basis of certain common standards. A descriptive, as opposed to a normative, theory of the political organization of a society has the task of identifying and presenting these standards. By contrast, a normative theory tries to determine whether these are indeed the standards that members of the political community ought to follow. This entry will examine the history of normative theory, the main debates within the filed, and the most important aspects on which debates focus (the nature, object, purpose, and criteria of normativity). The entry will conclude with a brief presentation of the relation between ethical and political normative theory.

Citation

Baiasu, S. (2014). Normative Theory. In The Encyclopaedia of Political Thought. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118474396.wbept0716

• Online Publication Date: Sep 15, 2014
• Publication Date: Sep 15, 2014
• Deposit Date: Jun 6, 2023
• Publisher: Wiley
• Book Title: The Encyclopaedia of Political Thought
• ISBN: 9781405191296
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118474396.wbept0716
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781118474396